Jim McLean to be inducted into PGA of America Hall of Fame

The PGA of America recently announced its 2025 Hall of Fame Class, and among this year’s inductees is Northwest native and PNGA Hall of Famer Jim McLean.

Along with McLean, the other 2025 inductees include PGA of America Past President Jim Richerson, PGA; Ronny Glanton, PGA; JD Turner, PGA; LPGA Tour Legend Nancy Lopez; and PGA of America Honorary Member and adaptive trick-shot artist Dennis Walters. They will be inducted into the PGA of America Hall of Fame at the 109th PGA Annual Meeting during a special ceremony on November 5, 2025, at the Omni PGA Frisco Resort in Frisco, Texas.

McLean is one of the most influential PGA of America Golf Professionals in the world, recognized globally for his teaching excellence. In 1991, he founded the Jim McLean Golf School at Doral, which has grown into an internationally respected academy with locations across the U.S., Spain, Mexico and South Korea, and currently headquartered at the historic Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Fla. His schools have produced 420 certified teaching professionals, with more than 250 serving as Directors of Golf or Instruction.

Now a PGA Master Professional, McLean has taught thousands of golfers, including over 100 PGA, LPGA and Champions Tour professionals, including Cristie Kerr, Keegan Bradley, Tom Kite, Peter Jacobsen, Lexi Thompson, Gary Woodland and Bernhard Langer.

He has written 15 golf books, a business book and contributed to Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, and Golf Illustrated. He has been a featured presenter at 12 PGA Teaching & Coaching Summits, spoke at three European Summits and has presented all over the world. He served 15 years on the National PGA Teaching and Education Committees.

McLean’s contributions have been recognized at every level. In the Metropolitan Section, where he spent 19 years, he was named Teacher of the Year (1986), received the Professional Development Award (1987) and was inducted into the Met PGA Hall of Fame (2012). In the South Florida Section, he won Teacher of the Year twice (1996, 1998), earned the Youth Player Development (2000) and Professional Development Awards (2001) and was inducted into the South Florida PGA Hall of Fame (2020). Nationally, he was named PGA of America Teacher of the Year (1994) and received the PGA Professional Development Award (2020).

Earlier in his career, he was Director of Golf at Sunningdale, Quaker Ridge, Sleepy Hollow, Tamarisk and Doral. Both of his sons, Matt (Wake Forest) and Jon (Oklahoma State), played college golf.

“The PGA of America is honored to recognize our 2025 Hall of Fame Class and celebrate the incredible impact they have had throughout their careers, inspiring thousands both on and off the course,” said PGA of America President and Master Professional Don Rea Jr., PGA Owner/Operator of Augusta Ranch Golf Club (Arizona).

McLean, widely regarded as one of the game’s best teachers, hasn’t lived in Seattle for more than 45 years. Although his current Florida residence is 3,300 miles away, he retains a strong affinity for the region where he grew up, in a house bordering the 10th hole at Seattle’s Rainier Golf and Country Club. John McLean, his father and patriarch of the McLean clan, was a Boeing engineer and a gifted golfer who qualified for three U.S. Amateur Championships.

By the age of 16, Jim began to serve notice that he could play the game as well. He twice won the Washington State Jaycees Junior title (1966, 1967) and also won the Washington State Junior title in both those years. He won the PNGA Men’s Amateur three times (1969, 1971, 1972), the 1970 Northwest Open (competing against the PGA Professionals), the 1970 Seattle Amateur, the 1971 Pacific Coast Amateur. Later he became an All-American at the University of Houston. In addition, he played in two U.S. Opens and the 1971 Masters, where he made the cut. He was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame in 2003.

He was a shooting star across the Northwest golf scene, and also excelled at other sports.

“He was just an amazing athlete,” said tax attorney Jim Kintner, who also grew up alongside the Rainier course. “We were best friends. I saw him pitch no-hitters in Little League. I saw him make 25 straight free throws at halftime of a (Seattle) Sonics basketball game. His hand-eye coordination was incredible.”

But golf was everything. Kintner recalled the time he and McLean played 72 holes in one day. He also expressed no surprise when McLean turned pro and ultimately became a teacher rather than a player.

“Jim is the nicest guy in the world,” Kintner said. “I think it was just too much of a dog-eat-dog atmosphere out there on tour. He was more comfortable as a teacher. He always had this enormous curiosity. He wanted to understand everything about the golf swing.”

And it would be golf instruction that would make him a celebrity. But regardless of how high his profile became, or how far he traveled, he always has the Northwest on his mind.

“One thing about Jim, he always returned to his roots,” said his longtime golfing buddy and former Washington Open champion Joe Colello. “Every year he came back to see family and friends. At Rainier, he put on junior clinics for the kids and regular clinics for the members. We have a group called Friends of Rainier that raises money for the club, and Jim has donated his time for an 18-hole playing lesson (which is auctioned to the highest bidder).

The PGA of America Hall of Fame originated in 1940 at the suggestion of famed sportswriter Grantland Rice. It is the highest honor the PGA of America can bestow upon its membership or ambassadors of the game. For a full list of PGA of America Hall of Fame members, click here.